Mauritius Launches 'Ki Pri' App to Check Prices by Barcode Scan

The Mauritian Ministry of Commerce has launched a new mobile application called "Ki Pri", which translates from Mauritian Creole as "What's the Price", designed to let consumers check the official price of products simply by scanning a barcode with their smartphone.

The app was presented to the Cabinet of Ministers on Friday and is built around data from the Price Fixing and Information System, a government database that records the regulated or monitored prices of a wide range of consumer goods sold in Mauritius.

The goal is straightforward: a shopper standing in a supermarket or at a market stall can scan the barcode on a product and immediately see what the government-registered price should be. This is intended to help consumers spot overcharging and to put pressure on retailers to comply with official pricing rules.

Mauritius operates a system of price controls on a range of essential goods, particularly basic food items and household products. The Ministry of Commerce is responsible for enforcing these controls, and inspectors regularly carry out checks on retailers across the island. However, enforcement has historically depended on official inspections rather than real-time consumer awareness.

The Ki Pri app shifts some of that power to consumers themselves. By giving the public direct access to the same pricing database that regulators use, the ministry is essentially creating a crowd-sourced layer of price monitoring. If a product on a shop shelf costs more than the figure shown in the app, the consumer has an immediate, verifiable basis for a complaint.

The initiative also reflects a broader push by the Mauritian government to use technology to improve transparency and accountability in everyday economic life. Similar apps have been introduced in other countries to combat price gouging, particularly in the aftermath of supply chain disruptions or inflation spikes.

Mauritius has experienced significant cost-of-living pressure in recent years, with rising prices for imported goods placing strain on household budgets. Consumer advocacy groups have long called for more accessible tools to help ordinary people understand what they should and should not be paying.

What this means: If the app covers a comprehensive range of products and is kept up to date, it could meaningfully shift the balance between retailers and consumers in Mauritius. Shoppers who previously had no easy way to verify whether a price was legal will now have that information in their pocket. For retailers, it raises the stakes for non-compliance, since any customer with a smartphone can effectively become a price auditor on the spot. The app's real-world impact will depend on how widely it is adopted and how regularly the underlying Price Fixing and Information System is updated to reflect current regulated prices.

Source: Le Defi Media